A special edition in honor of Christmas.  Some facts most of you people never knew about the fat man or the holiday.

1) 7% of mall Santa applicants were discovered to have criminal backgrounds by Pre-emply.com.

2) Approximately $2,255,750,000 is generated by photographs with Santa in shopping malls in the USA.

3) Santa must visit 842 million houses on Christmas Eve which is 822 homes a second.

4) Santa must travel 4,706,250 Mph to reach all those homes which is 650 miles a second.

5) 4% of Americans believe Santa, in the off-season, drives a sports car.

6) 25% say he drives an SUV.

7) The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass.

8) Germany made the first artificial Christmas trees. They were made of goose feathers and dyed green.

9) Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

10) If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas," you would receive 364 gifts.

11) Holly berries are poisonous.

12) In 1843, "A Christmas Carol" was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.

13) The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama.

14) Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.

15) In Greek, X means Christ. That is where the word "X-Mas" comes from.

16) More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.

17) In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

18) 27% of owners have their pets photographed with Santa.

19) Artificial trees are most popular with 40,694,463 on display in comparison to real trees at 34,335,809.

20) 28% of Americans re-gift.

21) 4 million tons of trash is generated annually from the gift wrap and shopping bags.

22) Jesus was probably born in a cave and not a wooden stable, say Biblical scholars.

23) Many parts of the Christmas tree can actually be eaten, with the needles being a good source of Vitamin C.

24) The world's tallest Xmas tree at 221ft high was erected in a Washington shopping mall in 1950.

25) The long shopping spree before Christmas began in America when relatives of soldiers posted overseas in the Second World War were encouraged to mail gifts early.

And now you know!!!!  Merry Christmas!